Americans Increasingly Believe Sports Betting Has Negative Consequences

According to a new survey, Americans are increasingly skeptical of the mass legalization of sports gambling, which arrived in 2018, and is still subject to local states. However, with the bulk of US jurisdictions regulating some form of sports gambling, hostility towards the sector is also growing.

Americans Turning Sour on Sports Gambling

Based on a new survey polling public opinion, 4 in 10 US adults believe that sports gambling is actually a negative thing, and it has serious ramifications on game integrity and people. This is an increase from the one-third who classified sports gambling as a negative experience back in 2022.

Interestingly, it’s sports betting’s most important cohort, young men, who have turned against the tide, with half of men under the age of 30 arguing that sports gambling is a bad thing and it impacts society negatively – this is a significant increase from the 22% who said so in 2022.

In other words, the way sports gambling has affected peers, families, and the bettors themselves has pushed many people into opposing the activity, shunning it, or otherwise becoming critical of it. A recent article in the New Yorker explained how a high schooler’s friends were gambling away money at popular platforms.

In the meantime, 34% of people who have placed a bet at legal sportsbooks share the view that gambling is a bad thing – up from 23% ago.

However, Sports Gambling Ought to Remain Legal

This is important because dissatisfaction is growing even among gamblers themselves who are coming to terms that the activity is not necessarily as fun as it was once touted to be.

Opinions diverged when people were queried over their stance on legalizing sports gambling – 6 in 10 agreed that pro sports should be legal, but only 4 in 10 agreed with legalizing college sports betting. Based on another survey – by Quinnipiac – 60% of US adults argued that it’s bad to allow college sports betting.

Young men remain increasingly likely to bet on sports, especially those under the age of 30. Black and Hispanic adults are slightly more likely to be gamblers, but they are almost matched with their white peers to point out of any statistically relevant findings.